How Do You Live at the Intersection? The Medici Effect and the Art of Inspiration

This post is a translation of the original Arabic article.

In this series on innovation leadership and entrepreneurship, I talked in the previous post about how innovation lives at the intersection of humanity and technology (here).

What I really wanted to explore was the concept of the intersection that Steve Jobs talked about, by answering an important question: "How do I live at the intersection? What does life there actually look like?"

The best person who has talked about living inside intersections is Frans Johansson in his book "The Medici Effect: What Elephants and Epidemics Can Teach Us About Innovation".

How Do You Live Inside the Intersection?

I will let you read the book at your own pace. For now, I will summarize some of the ways that help you live inside the intersection, drawing from Diego Rodriguez's talk on the same topic.

To live inside an intersection, you must be a good reader. That means you must enrich your life with as many sources of inspiration as possible and let them soak into your subconscious. If you live a life rich in experiences, you water your sources of inspiration. Then you return and apply the patterns you learned to the problems you are trying to solve.

Some things that help you live inside the intersection:

• Schedule visits outside your office into your calendar
• Learn about types of work you know nothing about
• Diversify your friendships across different fields
• Try to understand things that provoke you and challenge your professional principles
• Follow people in art, music, physics, literature, or psychology

Real-World Examples

The Windows Metro Design

One example that comes to mind is the new design of Windows 8 and Windows Phone 7 and 8, which became known as the "Metro" design. It was taken from designs used on signage in bus stops and subway stations, signs that were made for everyone: adults and children, all nationalities, people with vision impairments, tall and short. You can read the signs from far away. It is remarkable how work done in a completely different field can inspire your own.

Diego Rodriguez and the Org Chart

Another example from Diego himself: he was looking for a way to explain the company structure to employees without using the traditional hierarchical org chart, which forces top-down communication patterns. After a long search, he found his answer with an artist whose painting was a collection of colored, interconnected dots. He used the same pattern to create an org chart that showed employees how the company actually works.

Malcolm Gladwell and The Tipping Point

You will also find that Malcolm Gladwell found his inspiration in epidemics, learning from them how things change and how ideas spread. He saw how ideas find carriers everywhere, slowly building momentum until they accelerate and the change spreads like a contagion. This was the basis of his book "The Tipping Point".

Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook

Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, applied the methods of social interaction to the internet, and it became the most popular website in the world by far.

In Summary

From my personal experience, reading in psychology, sociology, literature, spirituality, poetry, physics, religion, and exploring other cultures, especially unfamiliar ones, cooking methods, ideas in architectural design, and much more, all of this helps you live inside the intersection.

Share your ideas with me: how do you live at the intersection?

Next in the series: How to Fail the Right Way